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‘Tune Me What?’ was thrilled to receive an invitation to celebrate South African Women’s day at the South African consulate in Los Angeles and Leon was doubly honoured to be asked to provide a playlist for the Consul, Mrs. Danielle DeBruyn Grady and her guests. Obviously we’re incredibly chuffed that our work in promoting South African music has not gone unnoticed. To share something of the occasion, here is just a sample of the playlist Leon took along with him featuring the voices of some truly exceptional South African women.

We really appreciate your feedback. We’re always open to suggestions and even requests! If you’re a South African musician living or touring internationally, do let us know about your concerts, album releases or tours – we’d love to give you a punt on the show.

Our email address is yesno@tunemewhat.com But most importantly, if you enjoy the show, tell your friends about Tune Me What?! You can find us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/TuneMeWhat

In today’s show Leon and Brett talk about South African poems and poets that have have contributed to some great music. From poets who have decided to turn their poems into music, to songwriters and composers who have turned to the words of some of the country’s greatest poets for lyrical inspiration, we investigate this fruitful cross-pollination of art forms, and as usual, bring you some of the best in South African music.

We really appreciate your feedback. We’re always open to suggestions and even requests! If you’re a South African musician living or touring internationally, do let us know about your concerts, album releases or tours – we’d love to give you a punt on the show.

Our email address is yesno@tunemewhat.com But most importantly, if you enjoy the show, tell your friends about Tune Me What?! You can find us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/TuneMeWhat

Everyone knows Paul Simon’s Graceland album, but not many know another album was made by an American artist shortly afterwards using the same winning formula of blending American songwriting with South African music – collaborating with local South African artists in the studio and in the composition of new music. That artist was Harry Belafonte and the album was ‘Paradise In Gazankulu’. In today’s show we feature some of the artists who worked with Belafonte and his songwriter, Jake Holmes, to produce this gem of an album.

We feature:

Alistair Coakley (with Hotline)

The Soul Brothers

Bakithi Kumalo

Vusi Khumalo

West Nkosi

Marks Mankwane and Makgona TsohleBand

Hilton Rosenthal and Bobby Summerfield (with Savuka)

Morris Goldberg

Brenda Fassie

We really appreciate your feedback. We’re always open to suggestions and even requests! If you’re a South African musician living or touring internationally, do let us know about your concerts, album releases or tours – we’d love to give you a punt on the show.

Our email address is yesno@tunemewhat.com But most importantly, if you enjoy the show, tell your friends about Tune Me What?! You can find us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/TuneMeWhat

Few doubt that Bob Dylan was one of the 20th century’s greatest songwriters, but to many his voice is an acquired taste, hence the many, many covers of his songs are frequently preferred to his originals, and for those who hate his voice, luckily there are no shortage of these. South African artists were as enthusiastic as any to cover his music and to make his songs their own in almost every popular South African genre. In this episode, ‘Tune Me What?’explores some of these. The great Miriam Makeba said of Dylan the he was “someone who wrote very profound and interesting songs.” We think this is absolutely true, so we hope you enjoy with us an hour of the words of Bob Dylan through the voices of South African artists.

This episode features:

David Kramer

Miriam Makeba

The Third Eye

Ladysmith Black Mambazo

The Dream Merchants

The Soweto Gospel Choir

Koos van der Merwe

John E Sharp & The Squires

Manfred Mann’s Earth Band

Tribe After Tribe

The Darius Brubeck Quartet

We really appreciate your feedback. We’re always open to suggestions and even requests! If you’re a South African musician living or touring internationally, do let us know about your concerts, album releases or tours – we’d love to give you a punt on the show.

Our email address is yesno@tunemewhat.com But most importantly, if you enjoy the show, tell your friends about Tune Me What?! You can find us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/TuneMeWhat

This week, Brett sits down for a chat with Stu McLaren, director of Musigooroo, the promotions agency that brings many South African rock acts to London. Apart from being in management and promotion, Stu is a busy session drummer and a veteran of the SA rock scene of the late 90s and early 00s when his band Soulja enjoyed chart success. After moving to the UK, Stu formed The Shotguns with other SA expats and recorded an album in the famous Studio 2 at Abbey Road. Musigooroo has worked with many of the top names in SA rock: Springbok Nude Girls, Ard Matthews, Tailor, Boo! And many others, and Stu has some stories to tell, so join us for a special double-episode in which we play some ace music.

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In this week’s show we feature:

The Shotguns

Charisma

Cinema

Mango Groove

Pocket Lips

Springbok Nude Girls

Tananas

PBD

The Honeymoon Suites

Wonderboom

Egyptian Nursery

Soulja

Bright Blue

Brenda Fassie

Mafikizola

Robin Auld

Boo!

Tailor

Red Tape Riot

Check out some of Stu’s top-flight drumming:

We really appreciate your feedback. We’re always open to suggestions and even requests! If you’re a South African musician living or touring internationally, do let us know about your concerts, album releases or tours – we’d love to give you a punt on the show.

Our email address is yesno@tunemewhat.com But most importantly, if you enjoy the show, tell your friends about Tune Me What?! You can find us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/TuneMeWhat

In today’s show, Leon & Brett go where their musical SatNav takes them, down the streets, roads, avenues and boulevards of song. The show features the usual selection of great South African music from different genres and styles, and across the eras. So join us on a great musical road trip through South Africa. We’ve has packed the ‘padkos’. Buckle up!

In this episode we feature:

Tony Cox

Simphiwe Dana

Jennifer Ferguson

The Jo’burg City Stars

Jonathan Butler

Roger Lucey

Lucas Maree

Baxtop

Cindy Alter

Felix Laband

We really appreciate your feedback. We’re always open to suggestions and even requests! If you’re a South African musician living or touring internationally, do let us know about your concerts, album releases or tours – we’d love to give you a punt on the show.

Our email address is yesno@tunemewhat.com But most importantly, if you enjoy the show, tell your friends about Tune Me What?! You can find us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/TuneMeWhat

In today’s special double-episode we are joined by songwriter, poet, musician, broadcaster, promoter, creativity guru and author of the book “One Two, One Two – A Guide To The South African Music Industry” – David Chislett. In the course of our two-hour discussion we hear about the bands David has played with, managed and promoted, as well as his collection of poetry set to music by some remarkable South African artists. We get to play some amazing records and discuss the state of the music industry in South Africa, and its problems and challenges, many of which are addressed in David’s book, ‘One Two, One Two’ which he is now giving away free from his website http://davidchislett.com.

In this episode we feature:

No Friends Of Harry

Psycho Reptiles

Scabbie Annie

Blasting Scones

Antigravity

The Hellphones

New Academics

Japan & I

Goldfish

Shannon Hope

David Chislett

Shotgun Tory

Get David Chislett’s fantastic resource, ONE, TWO, ONE, TWO: The Step By Step Guide To The SA Music Industryhere.

We really appreciate your feedback. We’re always open to suggestions and even requests! If you’re a South African musician living or touring internationally, do let us know about your concerts, album releases or tours – we’d love to give you a punt on the show.

Our email address is yesno@tunemewhat.com But most importantly, if you enjoy the show, tell your friends about Tune Me What?! You can find us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/TuneMeWhat

It’s a show about nothing! Well, to be fair, Brett & Leon manage to play 60 minutes of fantastic South African music while making gratuitous references to Seinfeld… but hey, any excuse to fill an hour with some great tunes by South African artists.

In this show, we feature:

The Jonny Cooper Orchestra

George Mathiba

David Kramer

Mean Mr Mustard

Kalahari Surfers

The Cherryfaced Lurchers

Prime Circle

Sugardrive

Shortstraw

Hugh Masekela

Peto

We really appreciate your feedback. We’re always open to suggestions and even requests! If you’re a South African musician living or touring internationally, do let us know about your concerts, album releases or tours – we’d love to give you a punt on the show.

Our email address is yesno@tunemewhat.com But most importantly, if you enjoy the show, tell your friends about Tune Me What?! You can find us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/TuneMeWhat

After the enthusiastic response we got when we shared a video of some ous dancing to a kief groove in the Western Cape, we decided to do a whole programme featuring artists from the Western Cape. We hardly scratched the surface! But we hope you enjoy an hour of real South African music with us featuring some great artists from this part of the world.

This week’s show features:

Ringo Madlingozi

Koos Kombuis & Valiant Swart

David Kramer & Jack Parow

Simon Van Geld Band

Melanie Scholtz

YOMA

Prophets Of Da City

Godessa

Rowick Deep & Auriol Hays

Fokofpolisiekar

The Genuines

We really appreciate your feedback. We’re always open to suggestions and even requests! If you’re a South African musician living or touring internationally, do let us know about your concerts, album releases or tours – we’d love to give you a punt on the show.

Our email address is yesno@tunemewhat.com But most importantly, if you enjoy the show, tell your friends about Tune Me What?! You can find us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/TuneMeWhat

In today’s episode, the Tune Me What? team go to the bioscope (that’s the cinema to non-South Africans) and play some tracks by South African artists featured in films. So grab some popcorn, peanuts and bubblegum and join us for an hour of South African music.

Today’s show features

The Cherry Faced Lurchers

Mandoza, Ringo & Avante

Hemelbesem

Temple Of Sound (feat Jo Legwabe)

Zola

Sjava

The Manhattan Brothers

Dorothy Masuka

Lira

Soweto String Quartet

We really appreciate your feedback. We’re always open to suggestions and even requests! If you’re a South African musician living or touring internationally, do let us know about your concerts, album releases or tours – we’d love to give you a punt on the show.

Our email address is yesno@tunemewhat.com But most importantly, if you enjoy the show, tell your friends about Tune Me What?! You can find us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/TuneMeWhat